24:00 isnt too bad...especially if you dont run regularly. 5k is 3.1 miles...so you ran a little under 8 minutes/mile. your profile says you are under 18...if thats so...a few guys on my high school x-country team used to run slower times than that...perhaps you should think about joining! ;)

That is a great time for a middle schooler. When I was in high school we won a state championship in cross country. A lot of the frosh we had ran around 19-20min/5k, but were probably in the 22-25 min range coming into the program. So, you're already at the level of a high school frosh and still in middle school.

24:00 isnt too bad...especially if you dont run regularly. 5k is 3.1 miles...so you ran a little under 8 minutes/mile. your profile says you are under 18...if thats so...a few guys on my high school x-country team used to run slower times than that...perhaps you should think about joining! ;)

8 minute miles is what we used to run in formation in the military. Sorry, but that isn't anything special, it's just not. Even for a middle schooler.

Posted by therewas47 on 12/6/2012 6:51:00 PM (view original):That is a great time for a middle schooler. When I was in high school we won a state championship in cross country. A lot of the frosh we had ran around 19-20min/5k, but were probably in the 22-25 min range coming into the program. So, you're already at the level of a high school frosh and still in middle school.

Did your team make cuts and when was this? Back when I was in hs (2001-2005) frosh were doing the 5k at around 18min, with the top guys going in the 15-16min range.

They didn't make cuts so there was 50-70 of us, but coming in the top frosh would be doing 19 1/2 mins. The average was a lot lower than that. A lot of frosh could run quick 1 mile runs but got killed in the last mile. I was in the top 15 with around 18 mins. No one in our state meet that year did under 16 mins. Albeit i'm from a smaller state and the state meet is at a fairly hilly location.

After taking 4 months to get in pretty good shape I was running a 5k in 19 minutes....when I was 35. About two months after having my second shoulder surgery in a year I ran 3 miles in 21 minutes, but that last tenth of a mile is always the toughest, right? I also like to run spartan (and spartan like races) and I was doing those in about 25 minutes and the best i finished was right around 100 out of a thousand or so. They ask that you steadily run a 5k in less than 24 minutes to enter the competitive heats. Oh, and I am by no means a runner!

Tianyi is right about where you need to be to be competitive. Nonetheless, good job in the race and keep going. You'll be able to shave quite a bit of time of your 24 minute pace very rapidly.

24:00 isnt too bad...especially if you dont run regularly. 5k is 3.1 miles...so you ran a little under 8 minutes/mile. your profile says you are under 18...if thats so...a few guys on my high school x-country team used to run slower times than that...perhaps you should think about joining! ;)

8 minute miles is what we used to run in formation in the military. Sorry, but that isn't anything special, it's just not. Even for a middle schooler.

Rain... parade...

Everyone starts somewhere. Keep at it.

I deleted my post initially because I didn't want the kid too feel bad, but since you decided to quote it and put it up there anyway, I guess I'll have to respond. There's no need to sugar coat it for this kid, what he did was nothing special. At all. Since when did it become a rule that we're not allowed to "rain on anyone's parade" and always have to kiss *** in these posts. Hey kid, you ran at an 8 minute mile pace for 3 miles. Good for you, but the reality is that it's nothing special. So if you want to call it raining on his parade, fine, that's your choice. But I'm from the camp that doesn't think every kid should get a blue ribbon or a trophy just for participating. Do something special and I'll be the first one in line to congratulate you. Do something average and brag about it? Well, I'll probably be first in line to call you out on it.

It's far past time to stop treating all these kids like they're perfect and can do no wrong. I see it all the time at my boy's soccer games, parents telling their kids that they played a perfect or awesome game when in reality, they played like crap. Keep coddling these kids and coddling these kids and you end up with a bunch of young adults who think they're entitled to something when they finally hit the real world and have no idea what to do when they take their first *** chewing because they've been handled with kiddy gloves their whole lives. When it's time to make it in the real world and they can't because they've been sheltered their whole lives, what then? Do they run back to mommy crying because someone said something mean to them? Yep, I guess I rained on his parade. Maybe he'll get ****** because I did and go out and train and train and become the best 5k runner in history and I really hope he does. Or maybe he'll go sulk in his room because he didn't get praise from each and every one who posted. But I'm sorry, I'm not going to prop this kid up and make him think he did something special when he really didn't. And you can quote that if you would like. Have a nice day.

Oh, and by the way, Deery I hope you do continue to run and train and end up lowering your time. It sounds like you've found something you like to do, so stick with it. And when you do come in first in one of your races, you can tell that emy guy to kiss your 5k running, first place ***!

To a degree I agree, but time and place need to be accounted for. I really like to encourage people when they are starting out in something so that they have a love of that activity. For instance, if a new coach asks me to evaluate their first class i'll tell them good first effort and encourage them to keep improving before later going in to greater detail. I remember growing up that I was the only one in the family with basketball talent. I only played freshman ball but I always liked it better than baseball even though I was very talented at baseball. I hated ever baseball game though because I could pitch a no-hitter and still get heavily scrutinized.

Umm, guys, reality check, you're comparing yourselves to a middle schooler??? Umm, guys, reality check, your're comparing yourselves to a middle schooler! I think I may have even come across a "back in the day..." which is translated into... "ignore whatever is coming next," for all but the most simple of individuals and bored spouses.
The nice thing about it Deery is that you are young enough to do whatever you want and improve drastically (gain wisdom) in whatever area that may be. If you were to improve that 5k time by even three seconds/ week for the next five years, you would be a world champion and three seconds a week really isn't that much. Most of us are too old to be a world champion in anything so my two cents would be never listen to bitter has beens or never were's. At the same time, any advice you are getting off a hoops dynasty bulletin board in regards to anything but hoops dynasty probably isn't worth too much weight, including my own.

The middle schooler asked for opinions on whether he had run a good time. He got those opinions. You're telling him to never listen to anyone that offers any kind of criticism. Way to coddle the youth. You're certainly correct about one thing, your advice doesn't carry much weight. Do you really think he can continuously improve his time by three seconds a week, every week, for five years? Talk about reality checks. If this kid only listens to people who tell him how good he is, and never listens to anyone with constructive criticism, how do you think he's gonna turn out when he hits the real world, oh wise one?

By the way, aren't you the one who is constantly advocating a "level playing field for the new coaches"? Saying how all the veterans have all the advantages? Talk about wanting to give everyone a blue ribbon. Did you ever stop and think, even for a second, that all the "veterans" who have all the "advantages" were once rookie coaches themselves? Yet they managed to overcome this horrible, unfair setup you keep moaning about and had enough success to get those good jobs. You don't just start at an elite BCS school. You can't pick up an A+ prestige D2 team in your first season. You should really step out of the utopian world you live in and try reality on for a second. If these "rookie" coaches can't hack it, it's not because the system is set up for them to fail, it's because they aren't any good. As I said, all the "veterans" were "rookies" once and they managed to succeed, so why spoonfeed all the newcomers? Blue ribbons, trophies, and cotton candy for everyone.

Oh, and as far as the "back in the day" comment, I'd love to go back and find the thread where you were discussing the baby boomer generation. "Back in the day" being for the most simple of individuals and bored spouses? Wow. Pot meet kettle. And now, I would expect you to do as you did last time when I disagreed with you, which is to send me a sitemail and refer to me with an insulting term and then crying like a little girl with a skinned knee when you got a sitemail back that hurt your sensitive little feelings. Fire away.